95% viewability rate... is this the mobile ad format of the future?

Mobile ad blockers are taking over. The users are sick of intrusive, obstructive banner ads, of flashing, ill-directed gifs, of pop-ups redirecting them into oblivion. Ad-blockers and poor quality ad-units have damaged publishers and advertisers. It’s grim out there.

But, what if there was a way to remove the need for ad-blockers by producing attractive ads – ads that don’t obstruct or ruin the experience?

The industry urgently needs mobile ad formats that do exactly that. And InSkin Media claims to have developed the solution. Borne from the need for more positive user experiences, PageSkin Edge first aimed to provide non-intrusive branding for mobile web on tablet devices, and has now developed the format for smartphones.

High-impact but non-intrusive

Jeep are the first to explore the new format and have seen some astounding results with a 95% viewability rate, an average in-view time of 43 seconds and a 2% click-through rate against the 0.4% industry average.

"Verified stats on active in-view times are a key additional reporting metric for us to prove the value of investing in high-impact formats," says Nicky Traynor, Jeep account manager at Maxus. "They focus on brand dwell time and quality engagement on smartphone devices, traditionally known for delivering high clicks and low dwell times."

"Effective advertising on smartphone is an industry-wide challenge," adds Nicky, "especially to be able to have impactful rich-media brand advertising that doesn’t take over the entire screen and interrupt the user experience." A vital element in deciding to run the campaign is that PageSkin Edge has allowed Jeep to showcase the depth of the creative without compromising.

"We were excited to see a format in PageSkin Edge tailored specifically to smartphone, supporting the creative execution and taking into account the user experience on mobile sites. Being able to have an animated and high-impact, dynamic experience on a smartphone is a big draw, as we can visualise our product in a rich placement with an inherently premium feel. We were able to access InSkin’s key publishers that really resonate with our audience, delivering the right people to the landing pages."

The format wraps around the page without obscuring content, with click-throughs only triggered by deliberate action, avoiding accidental clicks and ensuring genuine and high quality engagement.

PageSkin Edge has been specially designed so as the viewer scrolls through the content, the right-hand side element, with branding and calls to action, scrolls the page as well – remaining in view. View the demo here.

InSkin Media’s COO, Tom Knapp, says it’s a challenge to effectively deliver high-impact branding formats on the small screen of a smartphone: "We have been watching the market, and tested a number of product variations for this device, with the focus on delivering a high-quality experience that works for the user, the advertiser and the publisher.

"The end result is a product developed specifically for smartphone devices, now that they have sufficient screen real estate and processing power to deliver effective, high-impact campaigns," he adds.

Working on a number of potential iterations of the format, Knapp says we could see other mobile display units from InSkin in the future.

But in the meantime InSkin Media continues to support publishers and advertisers in the fight for sustainable advertising, by delivering formats that strike the perfect balance between high impact and non-intrusive.